I'm Alex Penn, Sales Manager from SSE Audio Group. While we are certainly overall very pleased with the review Bennett Prescott has carried out on the SSE Prosight Inclinometer System there are a few points mentioned which we would like to discuss further.
Firstly the question of waterproofing the Prosight units and in particular the SLST laser sender, which when in use will live on the side or top of the line array. You are correct these units are not 100% waterproof and it does clearly state this on the label. When the Prosight SLST sender unit was first created it was designed to be used with the Nexo GeoT system, and with this system it was mounted within the bumper which formed a roof over the unit, so the water consideration did not arise. There is a hole in the bumper front for the laser to fire through. However since then we have been asked to design brackets to use with all manner of line arrays, and so the question is relevant. The modules are housed in a two part folded steel case and there are no internal gaskets to stop water entering the housing. That said the housing is very tight and while not waterproof we could certainly say water resistant. Sure if you were to submerge the unit in a bucket of water there is no doubt water would get inside, but the fact that we use these units on a daily basis and have used them in some of the UK's wettest conditions, is testament to the fact that they certainly can withstand a heavy shower. Its fair to say that in certain outdoor situations the units can be fully exposed, depending on stage design etc, but we have never heard of a failure due to water, and there are over 2000 in service around the world. When the design remit was first considered, a key factor was making the housing strong enough to stand being thrown around in road cases. What was available on the market at that time were units in plastic boxes that rarely survived the length of the tour. We wanted a strong rugged housing that was road proof, and the fact that we now have 6 year old units touring is testament to that.
What you have not seen in this review are any of the custom fitment brackets which we can currently provide for Nexo GeoT, GeoD, L'Acoutsics VDOSC, K1, KUDO, d+b J Series, Meyer Sound Milo, Mica, Melodie and JBL VERTEC. All of these brackets provide a standard mounting platform for either our horizontal, or vertical mount bracket. This is basically another piece of folded steel that wraps tightly around the SLST leaving the front and the rear of the SLST exposed. This does also act as a further barrier for protection from the elements.
Unfortunately as nice as it would be for the Prosight SCT30 cable to use a 3 pin XLR this isn't possible without a change of technology for the signal. The cable has to carry power to the SLST, and send all the data back to the meter. We decided that having the power supply in the meter unit meant that if for any reason there was a power failure, it was at ground level where it was easy to fix (i.e. change the batteries) rather than being up in the air. It also reduced the cost as all SLST share the one PSU. The 6 pin XLR represents a connector that is familiar to road users, reliable yet cost effective, and available all over world. We know of no other 6 pin connector that fullfills this criteria and it seemed to us the logical way to go.
Bennett I don't know why there was no manual included in your kit but as standard this is on the packing list and should be included with every kit. Obviously something went amiss this time but we will endeavour to make sure this mistake is not repeated for other customers.
You mention that the manual has a section about re aligning the laser, and you are wondering if this means it needs constant checking. No. It does not. However The laser itself is mounted in an aluminium housing bezel, and this bezel is bolted to the housing case. When the bolts are tightened unequally then the unit will not be focused exactly. If the unit is dropped it may be possible for a minute movement to take place, which over 100 yards could make a significant difference to the lasers accuracy. Accordingly the manual goes into considerable detail to explain how you can check the set up, and periodically its a good idea to check it. This design also allows you to replace a laser in the field if it should break without having to return it here to the factory - when we designed the product we were concerned as to how reliable the laser would be over time, but as its turned out the laser we use has proved to be well suited to the job and the number of failures has been very small.
We currently have approx. 15 touring Prosight meter units and 40 SLST senders in our own hire inventory, and so we have our own instant feedback loop for reliability and performance isssues, and bear in mind most of ours are early ones. Many other UK and international hire companies use Prosight as their inclinometer of choice because as you say it is the best available. We intend to keep Prosight at the forefront of inclinometer products for the audio market and so your criticism is appreciated and we will work to keep improving the product. For the minute though it is very reliable and intuitive and any experienced system tech who uses Prosight, will usually want it as a permanent addition to their tool kit, or their chosen hire company's inventory.